Crime writer Jason Foss has vanished. In a move reminiscent of 1984, or the more paranoid Roman emperors his name has been erased from e-books on sale. Only a few hard-to-find first edition hardbacks remain of his five archaeological thrillers featuring offbeat lecturer Dr Jeffrey Flint.

Suspicion falls immediately on his alter ego, Jason Monaghan, whose name now emblazons the Flint series. Jason explains his motives for this decisive move:

“When I wrote my first Flint books, I was also writing heavyweight archaeology textbooks under my own name and did not want to cause any confusion between my fiction and non-fiction output. I was also aware that publishers did not want more than one book per author per year, and ultimately I might develop a second pen name in a different style to publish in parallel. Foss was easier to spell than Monaghan too, and harder to mis-pronounce in bookshops.

“The internet has however made pen-names almost irrelevant. Unless you take enormous care to remain anonymous, the rest of the world can find out your real name in 0.15 of a second. A more serious problem is that the more connected your output, the easier it is for search engines to make links between them, raising your ranking. Having two or more names fights against connectivity. Then of course there is the question of what to call your website, facebook page, Amazon author page and so on: do you have one per name?

“I was for a while the first or second ‘Jason Foss’ on Google but gradually slipped below various dopplegangers as social media use ballooned. The real me meanwhile was always in the top ten. My archaeology and Museum work entailed a steady stream of papers, and frequent newspaper, radio, magazine and local TV slots. Monaghan became more visible than Foss.

“This year I published Glint of Light on Broken Glass under my own name, as its initial market would be in Guernsey where I’m well known. After a discussion with Endeavour Press it was decided to rebrand the whole backlist, creating a satisfying body of crime and historical fiction, archaeology and local history. I’m now working to bring all my internet channels together too.